The district wants to set up several thousand solar panels in a field next to Lower Nazareth Elementary School, clearing open parkland and erecting a fence around the property. Residents say the project will hurt home values and destroy pristine open space.

At Wednesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, a lawyer hired by residents argued that since the project is essentially an agreement between the district and Florida company Kenyon Energy to lease the land in return for a discounted power rate, it would constitute a commercial enterprise.

That was news to the supervisors, who only learned of the lease agreement two weeks ago.

"I don't think the board was aware of some of the factual background or the nature of the relationship between Kenyon Energy and Nazareth School District," township solicitor Gary Asteak said. "That was not supplied as part of the application. That was not supplied on the plan."

Much of the confusion hinges on the township's vague solar panel ordinance. Unlike other municipalities, the code has few limits on the size of solar panel system that can be erected.

In effect, Asteak said the district soft-pedaled the project to the township, neglecting to make clear its lease agreement with Kenyon and the scale of the array. Lower Nazareth's solar panel ordinance was intended to help homeowners or businesses put up a few panels on their roof or in their backyard, he said — not a 3-acre array that dwarfs the surrounding homes.

And involving an outside company — Kenyon stands to make a profit on the array over the multi-decade lease — puts the project in new territory.

"It's like a homeowner leasing their property to sell hoagies and getting a discount on buying the hoagies back," Asteak said.

School officials at the meeting said they're not yet sure what action the district will take. School Director Thomas Maher said he'll discuss the issue with his colleagues during an executive session at the board's upcoming meeting.

The supervisors' vote came after district officials invited residents to the board's facilities and operations committee meeting Tuesday night to discuss the project. In front of a packed audience, Assistant Superintendent Dennis Riker admitted the district had given no thought to surrounding property values in pursuing the project.